Shelby County looking at dumping minority-hiring rules

Shelby County government might do away with rules that require businesses it works with to hire a certain percentage of workers from racial minority groups.

Proposed new rules would evaluate the efforts the contractors are making to hire minority workers, without setting a percentage.

The potential new rules would affect every contractor with 15 or more workers who wants to win Shelby County business.

Commissioners reviewed the rules Wednesday but didn't vote. The next discussion is set for July 25.

Malcolm Futhey is working as a part-time lawyer for the county and said the new rules are based on federal anti-discrimination statutes.

The proposed new rules come as contractors who lost out on county business because of their low minority hiring press lawsuits against the county.

"There have been concerns that have been raised in those lawsuits that I believe Shelby County should address to prevent further lawsuits from occurring," Futhey told commissioners.

The Bumpus Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership on Whitten Road was the latest company to challenge the county rules.

The rules require companies to go through a certification process in which they disclose the racial and ethnic makeup of their work forces. Companies with 15 or more workers must show that at least 21.45 percent of their employees are minorities.

That figure is half of 42.9 percent, which is the minority population in the multi-county Memphis metropolitan statistical area, according to the figures the county uses.

In the Bumpus case and other lawsuits, attorney James L. Holt Jr. and his team have cited a December 2009 legal opinion by then County Atty. Brian Kuhn, which criticized the county policy.

Kuhn's memo focused on information technology contracts, and said that the county hadn't proved that racial discrimination exists in this area.

Kuhn wrote that this made the use of race-based criteria "constitutionally suspect" under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says citizens must have equal protection under the law.

Under the proposed new rules, the county's Equal Opportunity Compliance Office could investigate to ensure that companies with 15 or more employees are hiring workers fairly and treating them equitably in promotion and other matters.

The goal would be to prevent discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability.

The office could take steps such as reviewing the company's records. Companies would also have to develop and submit a written affirmative action program.

"It becomes more subjective in some respects, but I guess from a more practical standpoint it allows the companies to make their best pitch, so to speak," said Commissioner Mike Ritz, who chairs the ad hoc committee that's reviewing the rules.